Back from the holidays, Apple has just filed a preliminary proxy statement with the SEC today in preparation for its annual shareholder meeting in 2013. It’s filled with a lot of insight into the inner workings of our favorite company, and while the biggest news is probably Tim Cook’s remuneration for 2012, there are also other interesting tidbits, including Apple’s resistance to the idea of the appointment of a Board Committe on Human Rights, and the fact that Scott Forstall’s departure lead to a pay raise for the rest of Apple’s executive team.

First, Tim Cook’s compensation as CEO in 2012 has seemingly shrunken since 2011. For 2012, Tim Cook earned just $4.17 million, compared to $378 million in 2011 and $59 million in 2010.

The lesser pay doesn’t indicate much, though, about how Tim Cook’s been performing his job. The discrepancy all comes down to stock option award. In 2010, Tim Cook was given $52 million in stock options, and in 2011, he was given $376 million more. Those stock options mostly won’t vest until 2014 at the earliest and 2021 at the latest, and are worth about $750 million right now at current market value. In 2012, however, Cook was not granted any options.

Things were better for the rest of Apple’s executive team, though. In the aftermath of Scott Forstall’s depature, all executives got a base pay raise from $800,000 to $875,000 to reflect their increased responsibilities.

Finally, there’s the resistance to the idea of a dedicated Human Rights Committee. Apple’s board is recommending that shareholders vote against a proposal that would “review the implications of company policies, above and beyond matters of legal compliance, for the human rights of individuals in the US and worldwide, including assessing the impacts of company operations and supply chains on resources and public welfare in host communities.”

Clearly, the heart of this proposal is in the right place, but Apple says that a separate committee isn’t needed, saying that the existing system put in place by Apple earlier this year in the wake of a series of reports about working conditions in Apple’s supply-chain is working just fine:

The Company is committed to the highest standards of social responsibility and human rights wherever we do business.

The Board is aware of no other company doing as much to safeguard and empower workers as the Company does today.The Company’s dedicated Supplier Responsibility team continually audits the Company’s suppliers for compliance with the Company’s industry-leading Supplier Code of Conduct. The Supplier Code of Conduct is based on widely recognized international human rights principles as defined by the United Nations and the International Labor Organization.

Apple’s Board goes on to suggest that “an additional and redundant committee would distract the Board from its other responsibilities to the Company and its shareholders, while adding little value to the Company’s existing commitment to human rights and social responsibility.”

“Renumeration” means to re-number something. “Remuneration” is the money and compensations a person receives for work or contribution.

About the author

John Brownlee is a Contributing Editor. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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